In the United Kingdom, travellers who do not respect the isolation of 14 days will be open to a fine of 1000 pounds (1697 $).
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June 8, 2020 8h14
Updated at 21: 15
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United Kingdom: entry into force of forty very challenged
Charlotte Durand
Agence France-Presse
Joe Jackson
Agence France-Presse
HEATHROW — in Order to avoid the import of the case of the new coronavirus during his déconfinement, the United Kingdom began on Monday to impose a quarantine of two weeks at any person arriving from abroad, a measure criticised that panics the air and tourism.
This quarantine will be re-assessed every three weeks, for all arrivals by land, sea and air, travellers are resident or not in the United Kingdom.
It is designed to prevent cases of COVID-19 from outside the country at the time where the country rises gradually to the restrictions put in place at the end of march to contain the spread of the virus.
“I really hope that people will be able to take the plane, go on vacation this summer, but we need to start by taking a cautious approach”, said Sunday the Health minister, Matt Hancock, on the tv channel Sky News.
Random checks will be implemented and violators will be subject to a fine of 1000 pounds (1697 $). Exceptions are provided for road transport operators, healthcare workers, gatherers of fruit or travelers from Ireland.
According to a spokesperson of Downing Street on Monday, the measure is so far well-respected.
Measure “crazy”
But the aviation sector is wind standing against this measure, which will, according to him, to recover from the terrible shock of the pandemic.
At the airport london Heathrow, 25,000 jobs are threatened by the quarantine, about one-third of the total staff, said the boss to the airport, John Holland-Kaye, in the podcast of the daily life of the business centre in london City AM.
Among the passengers who were on Monday, the opinions were mixed.
“It is a good idea”, told the AFP Sandy Banks, 45 years old, returning from Jamaica with her three children, “other countries do”.
A Dutch lawyer living in London, just returned from a week in Amsterdam a judge, the measure as “mad”. “There are more people who are sick and who die in the United Kingdom, it is Europe that is likely to protect us”.
The United Kingdom there are 40 542 deaths of people tested positive to the new coronavirus — and even more 48 000 by also including cases of suspects — nearly 287 000 contamination, according to the latest official death toll Sunday.
And, according to a study by the authorities of health england (PHE England) and researchers from the university of Cambridge, the virus accelerates slightly its spread in some regions since the beginning of the déconfinement.
Even if the government had not made mandatory, “personally, I would still quarantine because I don’t know if I carry something,” said the St Pancras station, in London, Fatima Camara, an engineer of 31 years old who works in France, but usually crosses the English Channel.
Sylvain Preumont, age 50, head of the company, going back and forth every week between the two countries, the exemption to observe the quarantine. For the measure has “no meaning” : “the diplomats are exempt, the truck drivers are exempt, people who work on the COVID are free… And as a result, it becomes ridiculous, because those who are exempt are those who are the most vulnerable !”
Air bridges
The airlines British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair have called Sunday on the government to abandon this “quarantine ineffective, which will have a devastating effect on the tourism industry in british and destroy […] of thousands of jobs”. They have co-signed an official letter addressed Friday to the government, a preliminary step to a possible court action.
“Thousands of Europeans who would normally be in the Uk in July and August, during the high season will not come because they are terrified of this quarantine,” said the boss of Ryanair, Michael O’leary on Sky News on Monday.
Criticized, including in its ranks conservative prime minister Boris Johnson is planning to establish air bridges with some tourist countries such as France or Spain, bypassing the quarantine. According to the Sunday Times, Mr Johnson has asked his Transport minister to find a solution before the end of June.
